Category: Maid

My maid seems to have a dubious character. While her work is considered good, somehow, certain things that she does over the last few weeks make her character appear dubious and I am quite troubled with that.

This morning as I was having breakfast with Sherilyn, I saw her shelling a hard-boiled egg in the wet kitchen when I walked into the dry kitchen. When she saw me, she got startled and threw the egg into the bin and pretended to continue with her work. I did not query her as to why she did that coz I know she had wanted to eat the egg but why on earth did she  ‘tau tau mor mor and kwai kwai she she’ (do it so stealthily)?  She could have just asked me and I will surely allow her to eat an egg as it’s not expensive. In fact I don’t mind her eating an egg a day since it only costs 40 sen each.  When she went out to hang the laundry, I went to the wet kitchen to do some spot checks. When I opened the wooden cabinet, I found her mug, filled with hot barley water. I’ve told her to boil barley water everyday but today, there was lesser than usual. When she came inside, I asked her why there was a mug of barley water inside the cabinet and she just looked stunned and tongue-tied.  I asked her if she wanted to drink the barley water and she just smiled a little but did not answer me, probably she was really scared that I found out. I then told her that should she want to eat or drink anything in future, she should just ask my permission and not ‘sembunyi’ (hide). I told her that I won’t like it if she ‘sembunyi’ food and things from me.

Well, I just hope she has learnt her lesson. I am still very troubled over this incident. Why did she boil the egg and wanted to stealthily eat it? I have yet to query her on this and I will probably ask her one day. I just hope she does not have a mind of a thief and a dishonest character.  After this incident, I think I should be on my guard more and conduct more spot checks on her.

No. of times viewed = 615

One thing that I really dislike my maid doing is that she likes to secretly share food with my gals. Though I have told her several times not to feed the kids with her food, she is still doing it – with the same fork and spoon that she uses. Yesterday, she did it again (coz Alycia told me out of guilt) when I wasn’t looking and I got so pissed off that I told my maid off. C’mon, how unhygienic can that be, sharing food and cutlery with someone who’s not your family member. Even I hardly feed my kids food with the same fork and spoon that I am using. Sicknesses can easily be spread through saliva and I don’t even know my maid’s health background. She could have TB or some severe sicknesses in the past. Maybe I should discontinue my maid having dinner with us together on the dining table. Do you allow your maid to feed your kids with the food that she eats and with the same cutleries that she uses?

No. of times viewed = 861

After working for us for 2 weeks, my temp Indon maid’s performance is still good.  My maid agent met up with me yesterday and I have confirmed with him that I will be absorbing this maid as my permanent maid.  In total, we will have to pay a whopping RM9k, which comprises of agency fee (RM3,600), 6 months’ advance salary for the maid @ RM500 per month, levy, medical and RM800 per month for 2.5 months for hiring a temp maid!  My hubby’s jaw almost dropped when I told him he still has to pay an outstanding amount of close to RM6k to the agent. 

I was informed by my maid agent that the agency fee will further increase soon.  Hopefully my maid will continue to be good and will agree to extend her service with us for another 2 years  so that we can save on the agency fee in future.   I am planning to do away with a live-in maid when my 3rd child turns 4 yo.   Hiring a maid is incredibly costly now and most of the time, the quality of the maids supplied to us is really below expectations and acceptable standards.  Most of the capable and good maids are already creamed off by employers in other countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  These maids are also paid handsomely in these countries. 

No. of times viewed = 444

After giving her the final ultimatum, looks like my Cambodian maid still did not get my message.  As I am not feeling too well, I woke up late today, at around 8am.  When I came downstairs, I saw my maid singing away in the wet kitchen.  Everything’s not done yet – the wok after cooking yesterday’s dinner was still soaked in water, the crockpot used to boil soup yesterday was also soaked in water, soup that I had instructed her to boil was not boiled yet, she did not even defrost the meat or prepare anything that I had asked her to do.  Clothes were also not put into the washing machine yet.  I was really boiling when I saw this.  I thought to myself that this lady is really incorrigible and I am just wasting my time and stressing myself up everyday. 

She was dilly dallying in the wet kitchen and would only move her butt when I told her what to do.  She should know what to do without being told as she has already been with us for more than 1 month.  Later when I reminded her to steam sweet potato for the gals for breakfast, she steamed a potato instead.  I had written on a piece of paper last night what she should be cooking today and instructed her to steam sweet potato. I even stuck the note on the fridge but I guess she did not read the note. This morning when I woke up, I reminded her again to steam sweet potato, yet she steamed a potato. I then told her to quickly steam the sweet potato so that the gals can have it for lunch as it was already 10am. I told her she can keep the potato and eat it for lunch.  Whilst I was busy preparing breakfast for the gals, she was busy eating her potato away.  I was really fuming mad. 

I then called the maid agent and told him I would like to have this Cambodian maid returned to the agency to be exchanged with the Indon maid he had originally promised me.  Luckily the Indon maid wasn’t assigned to another employer yet and my maid agent came to my house within half an hour with the new temp Indon maid.

When the maid agent was at my house, he asked me to brief him again my maid’s weaknesses and mistakes. After briefing him, the agent reprimanded my maid big time.  We then went to the laundry room where my maid keeps her clothes and watched her pack her things.  I then told the agent that this maid has been treating the laundry room like a rubbish dump as she has been keeping things that we had thrown into the dustbin in this room.  All of a sudden, the unexpected happened.  The agent did something to the maid which I did not expect that he would do it at my house….  right in front of me.  I was really shocked, dumbfounded and for a moment, I felt bad that the agent had done it to my maid, not only once but thrice.  My maid was in tears and I felt sorry for my maid.  After the agent had briefed the new temp maid what to do, he left with my Cambodian maid.

Now, I have to start training my new temp Indon maid from scratch.  I hate to think that just when she has gotten use to everything, she would have to leave when the new permanent maid arrives and I will have to train the new maid all over again.  

No. of times viewed = 6655

My maid was caught sleeping on her job again, this time my mum caught her.  I have been waking up late myself lately and could not spot check on her.  When my mum woke up at around 7am today, she saw my maid walking out from her room with eyes half opened and ruffled hair, dragging her feet and butt to move.   When my mum asked her if she had just woken up, she said no.  I did not reprimand my maid as I did not see it myself and I am just so tired of scolding her everyday. Tomorrow, I will start to give her surprises spot checks agian.  Even my mum who is a very patient person told me that this maid is incorrigible, really ‘moa tuck kau’.

No. of times viewed = 153

My mum and I have just discovered one of the reasons why our Cambodian maid is super slow in her work.  Can you beat it that she takes more than 2 hours to clean our bedrooms upstairs everyday?  Well, my mum found out why yesterday.  Yesterday, my mum read an exercise book that my maid keeps to write her English and Cambodian words.  In the book were pages full of stories that she has copied from my kids’ story books and electronic story book.  She must have spent a lot of time copying the entire story book into her exercise book when she is upstairs cleaning the room or when we leave her at home in the morning when I bring Sherilyn out for a walk.  

Last week, we were all searching high and low for the Snow White story book that my mum had bought for the gals from Ipoh.  We asked our maid if she had seen it but she said no and pretended to look for it under the bed and everywhere.  The next day, she told us that she found the book behind a plastic cabinet in my mum’s room and we believed her.  I am now wondering if she had the intention of keeping the story book coz there is no reason why the story book would be behind the plastic cabinet.  Also, this is the story book that she had copied the entire story into her exercise book.  She must have thought that we would not notice it as my gals have too many story books.  I am also now believing that she also had the intention of keeping my bedroom slippers when I found it behind the sewing machine in the laundry room.  This is where she puts her bag and belongings.  When I asked her why she kept my slippers there, she just gave me her usual silly smile.

I hardly have the time to go upstairs to supervise her when she cleans the room.  I guess I have to spot check her from today onwards.  

This Cambodian maid sleeps at 12 – 12:30am almost everyday.  My former maid could go to bed by 10:30pm -11pm.   Just before going to bed,  this Cambodian maid would go into the laundry room and close the door, thinking that I will not see it as I would be upstairs putting the gals to bed. I always wonder what she does inside the room and sleep so late at night.  The agent has told her explicitly that she cannot close the room door when she works.  When I asked her why she closed the door, she just gave me her silly smile again. 

I was beginning to have pity on her and have told her not to help me prepare the kids for bed and I have also reduced some of the household chores.  After this discovery this morning, I don’t think I will have pity on her anymore.   With my previous maid, I need not have to do much work but with this maid whom I have to pay more than double for her salary, I even have to do more work myself and stress myself up.   If I were not having a 3rd baby soon, I will really consider doing without a live-in maid  but it looks like I now have to hire a live-in maid for at least another 4 more years. 

No. of times viewed = 369

I used to have a super efficient maid who can do almost anything that I asked her to do.  With this super blur and slow coach Cambodian maid, I am asking myself whether the chores in my house are too much for her. 

For those of you with maids, how often do you ask your maid to do the following tasks? :

1) Clean the windows
2) Clean the ceiling and table fans
3) Change your bedsheets and your kids’ bedsheets
4) Wash the bathrooms and toilets

I ask my maid to clean the windows / mozzie nets and fans once a week. However, she only has to clean the kitchen and bedroom windows / mozzie nets every week and not all the windows in the house as my house has too many windows. Bedsheets are changed every week and bathroom / toilets are cleaned daily. Are these too much for a maid?

No. of times viewed = 219

When I went into the laundry room to look for my clothes today, I found a lot of rubbish that my maid has collected from our dustbins – things that we have thrown.  I found some wrapping papers (from Sherilyn’s birthday pressies), a new sharpener (Sher’s birthday pressie), some crayons and coloring books that I had thrown away.  I also found my bathroom slippers hidden under the old sewing machine.  As usual, I was fuming mad with the discovery.  First, she is putting these filthy rubbish in the laundry room and our clothes are all near the rubbish.  Secondly, why was the new sharpener and my bathroom slippers hidden there?  When I questioned my maid, she told me that Sir (my hubs) threw the sharpener away.  She just gave me her usual silly smile when I asked her why my bathroom slippers were hidden under the sewing machine.  The fact that I saw her happily wearing them for the past 2 mornings showed that she likes the slippers.   I gave her a piece of my mind and told her that in future, anything that she wants to keep, she has to get permission from me first. Wouldn’t you be mad too if you were me?

No. of times viewed = 270

Several days ago, I told my Cambodian maid that she could help herself to the basket full of mandarin oranges in the kitchen.  I didn’t mind her eating 2-3 oranges a day but this morning when I saw the wet kitchen floor scattered with mandarin orange seeds and skin, I was fuming mad.  Only yesterday I had told her to be careful not to leave the seeds on the floor of our dry kitchen and today, she threw the seeds on the wet kitchen floor!   This young lady really needs some guidance in civilization and manners.

Last night, I told her that she could have a few slices of the Valentine’s Day cake for breakfast.  When I searched the fridge for the cake to eat this afternoon, I could not find the cake.  I then saw the empty cake box in the wet kitchen!   When I asked my maid if she had finished the entire cake, she said yes!!  Oh boy, I think this lady is just too much.  From today onwards, I should be really explicit with her when I give her instructions.  Maybe she misunderstood me as she always seems blur and always says ‘yes’, though she may not clearly understand what I am trying to say.  Next time, I should tell her clearly how many slices of bread or cake she can eat, else she will gobble down everything that we leave in the fridge.   Tonight, I should tell her clearly not to finish off Sherilyn’s birthday cake, else that young lady can really chomp down the entire Pooh Bear cake in one day. 

No. of times viewed = 252

It’s the 3rd week she’s with us now and I have been telling myself to be patient, patient and more patient with her but I’ve had it.  I’m exhausting myself and risking my pregnancy just because of her incompetence and ‘blurness’.   I can still accept the bizarre things that she does but I just can’t stand the way she works – so terribly slow and her blurness.  She even walks slow.  When she first came, I thought she hurt her legs and had to slouch and walk slowly but now, I realize that it’s the way she walks – so slow like an old grandmother. 

With my former maid, though she was really sociable and had problems with boyfriends, her work was really good.  I need not lift my fingers much to do housework.  With this slow coach Cambodian maid, I have to do many things myself.  If I weren’t pregnant, I would not really mind but with my ultra sensitive uterus that’s contracting and tightening most of the time, doing all these chores, especially bathing the kids (which is quite a back-breaking task) is really torturous.

Just a moment ago, she made Alycia puke – the third time in 2 weeks.  She doesn’t seem to know how to brush Alycia’s teeth.  Each time she touches Alycia’s mouth with the hanky or toothbrush, Alycia would puke.  I’ve told her not to brush Alycia’s teeth but that forgetful lady forgot again.  I was busy cleaning up Sherilyn and preparing her for bed in the bathroom in my room when I heard Alycia puking in the bathroom outside my room.  The entire bathroom floor was filled with her vomit and my blur maid just stood there looking lost and blur.  I then told my maid to clean up the mess on the floor and to quickly wash Alycia up.  When I went out minutes later to check on her, the blur lady was walking from room to room searching for something with poor Alycia naked in the bathroom.  I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was looking for some papers to wipe the vomit.  When she said that, I was really pissed off with her.  I told her that she could have just used water to wash off the vomit since it’s on the bathroom floor.  That silly girl then used the bathroom brush / broom to sweep the vomit!  Of course the vomit got stuck to the broom.  I was just seething with anger looking at her.  I wanted to show her how to wash off the vomit but poor Alycia was naked and had vomit all over her body and Sherilyn was telling me she wanted to poo poo…. oh what an opportune time to want to poo poo when I have already washed her up all clean and put her pjs on.  In the end, I dragged both gals into my room –  put Sher on the toilet to poo poo whilst I cleaned Alycia up.  I hate washing them up coz I had to squat and squatting down means squeezing my big belly and that causes more tightenings on my belly.

That’s not it, as I am typing this post, my careless maid has just broken a ceramic spoon in the kitchen.  She has also forgotten to turn off the shower in the bathroom upstairs and I have just reminded her to go upstairs to turn it off.   How can I just go to sleep in peace every night?  I can only pray that my new permanent maid will arrive very soon and that she will be much much better than this blur and slow coach. 

I hope I am not boring you with my maid stories everyday but she’s really affecting my life.  I guess I should be thankful that at least I still have a maid, albeit a blur and super slow one to help me out.

No. of times viewed = 387

I hate to write about the things my new temp Cambodian maid does and about how incompetent she is but this one, I really must write about it.  It is something so lackadaisical and silly that I just can’t believe it.

This morning Alycia got up and as usual went to the toilet downstairs to do her daily poopie business.  I would normally bring Alycia to the toilet but this morning being the first day of CNY, I was busy with something else.   Minutes later, Alycia shouted out to me and said “mummy, kakak put the toilet brush inside the toilet bowl!”  I hurried to the toilet and saw a toilet brush sticking out from the toilet bowl with Alycia’s poop all over it!  (sorry for being gross).  I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears.  How could my maid have done such a careless thing… to leave the toilet brush inside the toilet bowl after washing it?   I called out to my maid and told her to put the pooped covered toilet brush into 2 layers of plastic bag and to quickly put it into the dustbin outside our house.  

Everyday, throughout the day, I would have to tell her how forgetful she is coz she is really forgetful and scattered brain and does things half-heartedly and incomplete.  She would leave the dish washing sponge lying in the sink after washing the dishes, she would not throw rubbish and I am the one who has to do it and remind her to do it as well,  she never hangs wet towels outside to dry after bathing the gals but leave it on my bed, she would forget to wipe the dining table after our meals, loves to say “I don’t know” (which really irritate me) and much more.  But this one is really terrible. 

Minutes later, as she was bringing the laundry basket full of dirty clothes to the wet kitchen, she knocked Sherilyn’s face (almost hit her eyes) with the heavy laundry basket which caused Sher to wail her lungs out. 

Later, when I took out some Tupperware containers to store peanuts, I was shocked to find that there was water inside these containers when the lids were opened. She must have kept the containers when they were still wet.   

No wonder she was rejected by her previous employer after 5 months.  And as an employer, we would ask why we have to pay someone so incompetent RM750  a month, which is RM300 more than a maid from Indonesia.  I am now paying my maid agent RM800 a month for this maid until my new permanent maid arrives since she’s a temp maid.  Really kek sei ngor!

No. of times viewed = 225

Yesterday, my Cambodian maid almost toasted all my pre-natal vitamins.  My pre-natal vitamins are all placed in a large melamine bowl in the kitchen.  When she toasted bread for breakfast, she placed the large bowl of vitamins on top of the toaster.  I did not notice it until half an hour later when I popped the vitamins and was horrified that the bowl and the bottles of vitamins were hot.  That really peeved me…. but still I did not scold her (tried really hard to control myself), but just told her off since it’s the first time she did this silly mistake.  Luckily the vitamins did not melt, else I would really be fuming mad as those pre-vitamins are all very expensive, especially the Neurogain fish oil.

No. of times viewed = 301